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Jeweled Millet

Author Notes:The best side dish ever, this will please even your non-healthy friends! Packed with spicy, crunchy chickpeas, nutty almonds and sweet, caramelized onions, this combination transforms millet. If you’re not 100% vegan, eat this with a large spoonful of plain yogurt. —Weird & Ravenous

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1/2
cup millet

Coarse salt

One
14-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

Olive oil

1
tablespoon harissa

1/4
cup blanched and sliced almonds

1
yellow onion, peeled and sliced into thin half-moons

Small handful cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

In This Recipe

Directions

Place the millet in a saucepan with 1 ½ cups of water and a large pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover the pot and simmer until the millet is just cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and let it sit, covered, for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the chickpeas on the prepared pan and drizzle with a glug of olive oil and the harissa. Sprinkle the mixture with a big pinch of salt and, using your hands, evenly coat the chickpeas. Roast, stirring now and then, until a bit crispy, about 20 minutes. Set the chickpeas aside.

Heat a thin layer of olive oil (about 3 or 4 tablespoons) in a skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the almonds to the hot oil and cook, stirring now and then, until they’re browned and fragrant, just a few minutes. Transfer the almonds to a plate, leaving the extra oil in the pan.

Place the onions into the leftover-almond-oil and cook, stirring now and then, until dark brown and quite soft, about 15 minutes. Set the onions aside.

In a large bowl, combine the millet, chickpeas, almonds, onions and cilantro. Season the mixture to taste with salt and eat warm or at room temperature. It’s even good cold to be honest.

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24 Reviews

I made this recipe tonight. My first time cooking millet. I love the combinations of ingredients, but it seems like it is missing something, perhaps acid. The suggestion of the yogurt dressing is a good one. I served mine with a bright salad.

I'm a fan of millet and use it in place of quinoa--less expensive and a No. American Grain. This looks really good. I wonder if I tossed in a few mixed roasted vegetables like carrot and peppers and beets and fennel if that would round it out? Going to give this a try this week.

I just tried this as a lunch for two today. It's a really nice dish, over all, but the chickpeas especially turn out well. I recommend serving it with (additional) cilantro and a yogurt/lemon/garlic dressing on the side. I will definitely be making it again.

This was really fantastic--every ingredient deliciously contributing to the common good. If I were to double the recipe, which I definitely want to do, I might fry the almonds in one pan and the onions in another. Although I'm sure the almonds lent a nice flavor to the onions that fried next in the same oil, I'd rather wash two pans than pick 1/2 cup of almonds out of the hot oil.

This is amazing. It's full of flavor and texture, healthy, AND it looks beautiful when prepared! Frying an egg (lightly) and laying it on top was an awesome idea! Although, the side dish stood tall on it's own. A must try for anyone with good taste! :)

Harissa (Arabic: ??????) is a Tunisian hot chili sauce whose main ingredients are red roasted peppers, serrano peppers and other hot chili peppers and spices and herbs such as garlic paste, coriander seed, red chili powder, caraway as well as some vegetable or olive oil. It is most closely associated with Tunisia, Libya and Algeria[1] but recently also making inroads into Morocco according to Moroccan food expert Paula Wolfert.[2] It can also be found in countries with strong Arab presence such as France or Germany. In Israel harissa is a common topping for falafel.

Wow. This is going to become a staple for me. I've never liked chickpeas so much. THANK-YOU! <br /><br />PS: I used flat leaf parsley instead of coriander and Siracha instead of Harissa. STILL DELICIOUS!

I made this last night to accompany a Sweet & Sour Marinated fish from the "Jerusalem" Cookbook. It was a huge hit. Some modifications: I cooked the Millet in homemade chicken stock (much as you'd do with rice, etc). I had some very fine organic Millet that I purchased here in NYC at the famous Kalyustans. I've never cooked with millet before (have baked with it) and it wound up being a bit overdone, but no big issue. I think it was very fine and very fresh, next time i'll check in on it. Additionally I used fresh chickpeas, that I soaked and cooked prior to roasting. I'm a big fan of fresh chickpeas and I had some time-they were beautiful smaller chickpeas from Tuscany, very nice when roasted. Lastly I did a melange of three herbs to finish it off, chopped parsley, mint and cilantro. I actually did 4X the recipe for a large pot luck, and it was a huge hit. I served it with some cucumbers in yogurt, also out of the Jerusalem cookbook. Much thanks.

I made a modified version tonight using what I had on hand (no chickpeas, so subbed organic chicken for protein; no harissa, so approximated a spice mixture and cooked it with the chicken; added some chard at the end) and it was amazing. I will definitely make it as written soon! I can easily see this in the weeknight rotation.